Earlier this month, Mike Hearn of Google’s Security Department posted online that Google has successfully encrypted the data traffic between its servers. This undoes the National Security Agency’s (“NSA”) work in creating the surveillance program “MUSCULAR,” which taps into the connections between Google and Yahoo’s private data centers.

NIST to Formally Reexamine Cryptography Standards Development Process
By Sheri Pan – Edited by Elise Young

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) recently announced that it has begun formal review of its standards development process for approving cryptographic algorithms. The notice appears to be a reaction to recent reports in the New York Times regarding the National Security Agency’s back door access to encrypted data through an NIST-approved cryptographic algorithm. That is used by many companies to encrypt data sent over the Web.